Recently Lou had surgery to repair a torn muscle in his leg above his knee. He’s still recovering, though. Last night, as he was trying to get up from the couch, I said, “Can I help you?” In his grunting, he said: “No, I need to get more independent.” This reminded me that in our spiritual journey, there are two things we should strive for and two things we should help others achieve: maturity and independence.
I would be a bad leader/teacher if I didn’t help you to become mature and independent. And that goes for any pastor or leader who is shepherding a flock. I’ve seen people become wandering sheep after their pastor leaves. Many walk away from church. And others who fall apart when their mentor dies. But a good shepherd is one who trains their people to become mature and independent.
Let’s talk about these for a moment. From Hebrews 5:11-6:3, the writer of Hebrews addresses maturity in Christ. He was writing to people who had been Christians for a while, but they were still drinking milk – never progressing past the elementary principles of Scripture. And he says that eating solid food helps us to recognize the difference between right and wrong (Hebrews 5:14). You can tell he was struggling in this part of his letter. He may have thought… “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.” We should always strive for maturity… a deeper knowledge of the Word of God. Once we are Christians, we should seek to know the Word of God, asking ourselves, “What does God say about this?”
And it should be the goal of any shepherd to help their people become independent. Independent Bible students… able to study on their own. And then teach others what they’ve learned. I always love it when people take one of my studies and lead a group with it. Recently, a friend’s group leader decided to teach Philippians. My friend told him about my Philippians study and because he respects her, he purchased a book. He is now using it as a resource to lead his group in the study of God’s Word, most specifically, Philippians.
I love when people tell me that they are leading a home group, a woman’s group, or mentoring someone in the Word of God… someone who has been partly trained through Solid Truth Ministries. Let me ask… are you working toward maturity in Christ through the study of God’s Word? Are you striving for independence, asking the Lord what He would have you do with you’ve learned? Just some food for thought today.